Enliven tries new approach in Ruthless Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Following a disappointing end to Enliven’s juvenile campaign, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin is making a couple of changes he hopes gets the filly’s 3-year-old campaign off to a better start.

Enliven will be cutting back in distance and adding blinkers when she faces six opponents in Sunday’s $100,000 Ruthless Stakes for 3-year-old fillies going seven furlongs at Aqueduct.

Enliven, a daughter of Ghostzapper out of the Grade 1-winning mare It’s Tricky, finished fifth as the 6-5 favorite in the Grade 2 Demoiselle going 1 1/8 miles on Dec. 1. McLaughlin still doesn’t have a clear reason as to what went wrong.

“It was just disappointing,” McLaughlin said Friday from Florida. “We’re hoping shortening up and blinkers on helps.”

At 2, Enliven won her maiden going 1 1/16 miles around one turn at Belmont and finished second to upset winner Oxy Lady in the Grade 3 Tempted, also a one-turn race. In the Demoiselle, she was up close early before backing up to fifth, 23 lengths behind winner Positive Spirit.

Enliven will break from the rail under Dylan Davis.

Trainer Erin McClellan ships in Ujjayi from Penn National for the Ruthless. A first-out winner at Laurel last August, Ujjayi has finished second to the undefeated Please Flatter Me in both the Blue Mountain Juvenile Fillies at Penn National on Nov. 21 and the Gin Talking Stakes at Laurel on Dec. 29. Please Flatter Me skipped this race to point to the $250,000 Busher Invitational here March 9, according to her trainer ,Mark Reid.

“I think it’s as soft a race as I can get for being in a stakes,” McClellan said. “There’s a couple in there that are pretty nice, but I think she’s definitely going to be a contender.”

Miss Imperial and Dovey Love, the one-two finishers from a Dec. 22 allowance race here, and She’s a Black Belt, a maiden winner in her sixth start, are other contenders in the field.

The Ruthless will go as race 8 on a nine-race card that begins at 12:25 p.m. Eastern.

KEY CONTENDERS

Enliven, by Ghostzapper
Last 3 Beyers: 50-86-75

◗ A no-excuse fifth in Grade 2 Demoiselle here going 1 1/8 miles in December.

◗ DRF FORMULATOR FACT: Over the last three years, McLaughlin is 2 for 9 turning a horse back to a sprint from a route while adding blinkers. Both wins came in 2016 at Aqueduct.

Ujjayi, by Smarty Jones
Last 3 Beyers: 66-65-59

◗ McClellan noted that the track at Penn National was closed from Sunday through Thursday due to inclement weather, so she could only shed row her filly in the barn.

Miss Imperial, by Maclean’s Music
Last 3 Beyers: 75-68-39

◗ She is the only two-time winner in the field.

◗ May have made a premature move when winning a first-level allowance by one length here Dec. 22 in her first start for trainer Jason Servis.